Plowman Craven 3D purchased a close laser scanning system from EuroPac Metrology in order to complement and extend the our considerable surveying and 3D co-ordinate measurement service solutions. As our customer base extends beyond the UK shoreline to an array of different countries with contrasting climatic conditions, it was imperative that the system purchased was stable and could produce repeatable results in all temperatures and conditions. The first test for this newly acquired system was to take the equipment into the Bahariyah Oasis located in Egypt’s Western Desert to scan recently discovered mummies. In 1996, so the story goes, a donkey put its leg into a hole near Bawati, which led to the discovery of the first of several tombs containing golden mummies and the renaming of the area, in common parlance at least, as the Valley of the Golden Mummies. Since the initial discovery of the site, the valley has attracted global media attention, especially in the United States. Beginning in 1999, initially five tombs were excavated and the first season’s work alone led to the discovery of over 100 mummies. Although no radiocarbon or other forms of dating have been carried out at the site, art styles and artefacts indicate a Greco-Roman date for the majority of the cemetery that is between 332BC and 400AD.

In late 2004 the Discovery Channel and the UK’s Channel 5 put on a series of innovative and audacious live TV programmes from the site. Plowman Craven 3D were commissioned to undertake high-definition close range scanning of some of the most important mummies from the site, as well as the tombs in which they were found, as an important visualisation and conservation record of these amazing remains. The flexibility of the EuroPac system allowed for quick and easy set-up in conditions and environments previously untested by such systems. The data was real-time visualised in Polyworks reverse engineering software and 3D rapid models were created whilst on-site. The archaeologists can now monitor any degradation of the mummies that may incur due to their movement from the tombs or purely due to the passing of time. Utilising all their metrology, survey and archaeological expertise Plowman Craven 3D and EuroPac Metrology team members suffered the heat, sun, flies and appalling food to produce breathtaking results in a country that has previously never seen such cutting-edge technology applied to the heritage sector.